


Tropical Rush

by DiurnalDays



Series: Stars in the Night Sky [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Action, College, Dreams vs. Reality, Dreamsharing, Fantasy, Gen, Speculative fiction, Urban Fantasy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 08:33:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28597011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DiurnalDays/pseuds/DiurnalDays
Summary: “And that’s what probably happened last night,” Cecil finished. “At least, I’m pretty sure it all happened. I’m still not sure which apparition gave you your powers, though.”
Series: Stars in the Night Sky [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2095470





	Tropical Rush

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't the actual beginning of this storyline, hence the lack of exposition. I wrote this alongside "Palm Tree" as a pair of stories exploring the ambiguity of a world where fantasy powers are only accessible within dreams. If you follow my art accounts, this takes place in the same universe as (and *before*) my short comic titled "Nameless In A Forest".

Cecil woke up with a start, body jerking upward and throwing the sheets off of their bed. They looked at their hands while their breathing evened out and steadied. Next to them in the crack between the two dormitory beds, Kailani waved her hand around in Cecil’s field of vision.

“Ow, ow, that hurts, dang it… Help me up, will you?” Kailani groaned.

During the previous night, Kailani had apparently rolled off her bed while still wrapped in blankets and was now splayed across the floor flailing about. Cecil reached over and pulled Kailani up by her forearms into a standing position. 

“Hey, Cecil, got an explanation for why I ended up in a blanket burrito on the floor last night?” Kailani groggily asked, rubbing at a sore spot on her back. 

At this point, Cecil could only recall brief flashes of whatever had happened that previous night. But for Kailani’s sake, they pieced together what they could still remember into a semi-coherent tale.

“Well…”

Earlier that night, Cecil had awakened in their dream wearing blue body armor and a kamishimo complete with a pleated hakama. They rose from their bed and looked back at their sleeping physical form before turning around and meeting the apparition Asteria’s gaze.

“Hello again,” Cecil said. “Since you’re here, there must be a Distortion somewhere on campus, right?”

“You would be correct in that assumption,” Asteria replied. Her shimmering starlight robes glowed faintly in the darkness of the dorm room, dark body undulating as if it were made from night sky galaxies. “Your duty is to once again destroy the Distortions tearing the dream world away from the real world. Normally, the power over darkness and starlight that I have granted you should be enough to overcome any Distortion. But in this instance, I must lend you more of my power because of the nature of the Distortion you are facing.”

“Is this Distortion significantly stronger than the Distortions I’ve fought in the past?” Cecil asked. 

“No,” Asteria said, shaking her head. “Another apparition has granted your roommate magical powers of her own. But your roommate is not yet fully conscious of this development, and so her powers have grown out of control, making her a formidable force of nature. It’s up to you to bring her back to reality.”

“I accept.”  
“Very well. You will find her in Hartley Commons. Now, hold out your hands.”

Cecil let Asteria take their hands. As a surge of raw dream power flowed through their veins, their armor began to glow with starlight. Asteria dissipated into thin air as soon as the power transfer concluded, signaling that Cecil was now on their own.

As soon as Cecil emerged from the North Orion dormitory and started running towards Hartley Commons, Amelia caught up to them while dressed in her full golden knight armor. Amelia was Cecil’s classmate who possessed similar powers within the dream world.

“Did Aether also send you to deal with Kailani?” Cecil asked. Aether was Amelia’s own resident apparition with the power of sunlight and air manipulation, as represented by the suit of armor she now wore. 

“Yeah, he did!” Amelia replied. “Looks like it’s gonna be the two of us against a single Distortion this time!”

“Seems like we have pretty good odds then,” Cecil said. “Let’s just hope that we can resolve this Distortion and wake Kailani up as quickly as possible.”

No more directions were needed upon arriving outside Hartley Commons’s front doors. Although New England was currently experiencing an early autumn cold spell, tropical vines and shrubbery had burst forth from the inner hallways and pried the front doors open, leaking warm summery air from the inside of the Commons building out into the chilly outdoors. 

As Cecil and Amelia stepped through the open doorways into the Commons, new tropical plants began rapidly sprouting and maturing outside the doors as if the fast-forward button had been placed on reality itself. Inside the Commons, vines and branches stretched overhead with colorful birds and lizards rustling through the dense leaf canopy. 

The tropical forest extended from the front doors all the way to an indoor garden in the middle of Hartley Commons. There, the carefully manicured plant beds had overgrown into wild, untamed tropical forest surrounding a sandy beach and a pool of blue ocean water in the center of the garden.

“I miss my home,” Kailani’s voice echoed through the high-ceilinged gardens. “I want to go home. Please, let me go home.” 

“Kailani!” Cecil and Amelia shouted in unison. “Where are you?”

“We’re here to save you!” Amelia said.

“Come on out already!” Cecil added.

A person-sized ball of water rose from the pool of ocean water. As the ball grew larger and larger, Kailani emerged with it, curled into a fetal position while dressed only in her tropical leaf-print one-piece swimsuit. 

“Home, home, home,” Kailani’s voice repeated. “I want my home. Take me home. I’ll make this my home.”

“I don’t think she’s conscious of what she’s doing,” Amelia said. “We’ll have to wake her up to get her to stop distorting the dream world.”

“Stop?” Kailani’s voice murmured. “I won’t stop. I’ll return home. I’ll find my way home. Nobody can stop me.”

Tropical vines burst out of the plant beds all around the garden, blocking Cecil and Amelia from getting any closer to Kailani. Cecil manifested a sword made out of solidified starlight in their hand and began slashing and slicing the vines. But with each and every vine they cut, another took its place.

“There’s too many of them!” Cecil shouted. “I can’t cut them all down!”

“I’ll use my light to distract them!” Amelia said. “Go get her!” 

With a wiggle of Amelia’s fingers, a ball of bright sunlight coalesced in her outstretched hands. The tropical plants immediately began crawling across the floor toward the light, leaving a clear path across the floor between Cecil and the ball of water.

“Thanks, Amelia!” Cecil said, immediately dashing down the cleared path toward the ball of water.

Upon reaching the floating ball of water, Cecil swung their sword at the shimmering curved surface. Each slice sprayed water droplets onto Cecil’s shirt but barely displaced the coalesced water. Sensing a futile battle, Cecil threw the sword to the side and punched at the solid surface of the water to no avail. 

“She doesn’t realize it’s you!” Amelia shouted from the other side of the garden, vines coiled around her legs and arms. “She thinks that you’re her enemy! Call out to her so that she’ll let her walls down!”

“Kailani!” Cecil cried. “It’s Cecil! It’s really me! I’m here!”

Kailani’s eyes began to flutter open. Cecil’s hand finally punched through the water encasing her. 

“I must… return home,” Kailani said. “I can’t stay here any longer. It’s so cold. I’m all alone. I’m so lonely.”

The water began pushing Cecil away from Kailani. Cecil gritted their teeth. If they didn’t act fast, they would lose their window of opportunity. 

They removed their winter coat with their free hand and punched it through the water barrier, using all of their remaining strength to wrap the coat around Kailani’s shoulders.

“Feel that winter coat around your shoulders? You’re in New England, not Hawai’i!” Cecil shouted. “And you’re not alone, ‘cause Amelia and I are both here for you! Come on, wake up already so that we can go get bagels together again!”

Kailani’s eyes opened, revealing glowing corneas. Tears spilled from her eyes. The barrier of water pushed Cecil away with a burst of pressure before evaporating into mist.

Kailani fell to her knees on the floor and continued crying with Cecil’s winter coat wrapped around her shoulders. The tropical vegetation and ocean water filling the Hartley Commons garden began to dissolve into thin air. 

“I’m so sorry,” Kailani sobbed. “I didn’t realize what I was doing. I’m so sorry.”

“Seems like the Distortion will resolve itself now that she’s awakening,” Amelia said, reaching out her hand to help Cecil up. “Good work, Cecil.”

As soon as Cecil’s fingers grazed Amelia’s, Cecil awakened in a bright flash of light.

“And that’s what probably happened last night,” Cecil finished. “At least, I’m pretty sure it all happened. I’m still not sure which apparition gave you your powers, though.”

“So I also have magical powers like yours that I can only access in my dreams, and my magical powers created a tiny tropical universe on campus, and you had to work together with Amelia to pull me out of my dream so that my dreams wouldn’t become real.” Kailani tapped a finger against her chin. “That’s a lot to take in, but I totally trust you! I mean, I heard you calling my name in my dreams. Besides, that stuff is all way too specific to be completely made up.”

“Then it all probably happened,” Cecil decided. “Anyway, wanna go grab some bagels with Amelia after class today?”


End file.
